I’ve decided on my New Year’s Resolution. Yes, while 2010 may not be the year I give up smoking and drinking (although a recent glance at my bank account may beg to differ), I WILL be making sure I stop using a certain phrase – a phrase, traditionally used rhetorically in times of desperation, boredom or sheer rage:

 ”What’s the point?” 

Do not underestimate the power of these three words; I have been known to utter them when a) confused (“Twitter? What’s the point?”) b) torn between two nights out (“Soulwax playing in Glasgow the same night as Derrick May?!”) and, most often c) downright pissed off about something.  I don’t know if it’s an overgrown teenage thing, a Scottish trait or just something that goes on in my family household, but asking for The Point has been ringing in my friends and relatives’ ears for about ten years now. And it’s time to stop.

However, there comes a time when The Point needs to be addressed, discussed and indeed found. What’s the point of Bubs’ Clubs? It’s not just a collection of all the clubbing experiences my afore-mentioned bank account will allow. Oh no. Hopefully I will generate conversation and controversy on a range of topics – music, for example or my worryingly deep hatred for Peaches Geldof. And politics n’ that.

The inspiration for this blog comes from many sources. My love for dance music, going out and, most of all, the little moments that occur on such outings to clubs that you know will stay with you forever. (Personal favourite #156 – Erol Alkan dropping Mr Oizo’s ‘Flat Beat’ at TWP this Easter.) Sometimes words cannot describe such moments, but I’ll try my best and hopefully recreate that feeling of mind-blowingly, organic, ‘we weren’t even on anything’-type of euphoria that can only come from a night out.

So why would you want to read about all this? Because recession has hit, and although it’s no time for luxuries, it IS a time for having as much fun as possible to stop us from going quietly insane. Maybe reading my blog will make you laugh, cringe, roll your eyes or scoff.  But if I can make someone’s decision to stay in and watch the X Factor change to a night out in a sweaty, heaving nightclub, then my work is done.

That’s the point.

Presents are great! But let’s not overdo it. Moderation is key. Think about the long term effects on your wallet and the environment before you buy (and wrap).

The concept of the “American Dream” was originally presented in 1931 by James Truslow Adams and suggested that people can succeed through hard work and that all people have the potential to live happy, successful lives. Somewhere along the way, however, Americans got the idea that the Dream included accumulating more and more stuff. As a nation, we went more and more in debt buying things we not only couldn’t afford, but probably didn’t even need.

With the advancements in technology, the Internet, and more attention towards global warming, Americans should easily be able to take more steps away from accumulating so much STUFF this Holiday.  Check out my article posted for San Diego Reader and let me know what you think

Ideas for Using Technology to Reduce Consumerism this Holiday

The Gettysburg Times reports that pro-casino spokesmen are using the premise of jobs for soldiers to get a casino built.

An interesting comment made by Adams County’s Jeff Klein was that many soldiers returning from Iraq don’t have jobs to come home to.

He said a project such as the casino could provide jobs, and called efforts to kill it “shameful (and) frustrating.”

Read more of the article here…

Image - Defense Imagery via Wikipedia

Sorry I’ve been missing. I’ve been up to my eyes at work.

In these straitened times, that should be a good thing, but it isn’t. Another river of shit is flowing towards the wonderful people who work with me. We’re all going to get paid less when we come back after Christmas, and some, though thankfully only a few, won’t be coming back at all.

I’ve been so busy because I’ve had to pull together information that the people at the top will use to control the river, to decide in what directions to channel it and where to let it burst its banks. Shit happens, and they have to decide who to. They hate it, and I don’t envy them.

Meanwhile the staff carry on working, and discussing next week’s (much-diluted from last year) Christmas party.

I feel so sorry for the ones who’ll be going. The rest of us, well, we’ll manage. we’ll get by on our lower salaries and, if things ever pick up again, we’ll see good times again.

But the anger at the Government and the financial misfits who caused all this will still burn inside. It will not burn with flashy and short-lasting flames of rage and shouting. It will smoulder deep, deep inside, and because of this it will last much longer. And this deep-felt anger is burning  in other companies, in the public service, in all of society.

We keep being told that things are going to change. Unless the powers-that-be really are as divorced from the people as they appear, then they must see that things will have to. Because the people of Ireland have had enough.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has published results showing a fall in the gap between the average pay of a man and a woman in a full time job.

According to the findings, the “gender gap” has fallen from 17.4 per cent in 1997, to 12.2 per cent.

But the gender gap in full and part-time work still stands at 22 per cent.

The reports, published in the Independent also show that women’s pay and job opportunities in the recession have suffered less than those of men.

Despite these figures, some women still believe they are at a disadvantage in the world of work.

Earlier this year, actress Zoe Wannamaker said: “Women are always at the bottom as far as pay is concerned- the equal pay business is a big struggle.”

Wow.

Although it’s not exactly jolly, pre-Thanksgiving reading, here are stories submitted by young people eking out a “living” during the recession via The Nation.

I found the accompanying article disappointing, maybe because it is so unbelievably depressing. It only quotes one woman, but the author does note the continual inequity between young male and female workers and people of color). I really liked some of these submitted stories, however.

Also, here is a painting by my friend Melanie in a style I’ll call Nursery School Expressionism or, as is the current magazine trend, something trivializing like Recession Surrealism. I love the expression on the girl’s face–that’s how I feel when I start thinking about economic inequity exacerbated by the recession. It’s called Donna and Herman Start a Puzzle. A puzzle, indeed.

Posted by Anonymous.

Solutions needed

1. living and being supported by in-laws

2. while husband lives in another state with friends

3. to be near clients

4. no vehicles in either of our names

5. four children, 9 and under

6. virtually no income currently

7. it’s been since January 2009

8. cannot move to in-laws town (officially, anyway)–we have absolutely no “warm market” here to support our business (in fact, all family has outright refused to give us any leads—they’re not comfortable referring friends to us; you know, because we’re family).

9. I have the background to do a preschool/daycare

10. but, as we’re living in someone else’s home, I’m trying not to make to many waves.

11. Would state aid take my in-laws income into account, if we applied, since we live with them?

12. The state is UT

Help!

Saturday night.

* The TSA has finally put an end to the terrorist’s favorite toy: snowglobes.

* When your neighbor is unemployed: Bob Herbert has a good column in the New York Times today about the disparate rates of unemployment on different socioeconomic groups.

* 2010 will be the year of the deficit hawk.

* Poetry fight: Stephen King in Playboy vs. an ode to Megan Fox.

* “History should record that whether through unprecedented administrative incompetence or orchestrated mendacity, the American people were misled about the nation’s response to the 9/11 attacks.“

* As of July 2009, California’s budget shortfall was 49.3% of its general funds. States have considered drastic options to fill such gaps. “I looked as hard as I could at how states could declare bankruptcy,” said Michael Genest, director of the California Department of Finance who is stepping down at the end of the year. “I literally looked at the federal constitution to see if there was a way for states to return to territory status.” Via Edge of the American West, where eric asks, “Seriously, though, what does it mean—this is not a rhetorical question, I’d really like to know and don’t have an answer—when it seems more plausible to engage in constitutional shenanigans than to, for example, restore the vehicle licensing fee to its full former level, and other measures of that sort?”

Abortion has always been a heavy topic. It raises the idea of what’s ethical, and it is illegal in some countries or states and frowned upon in certain religions, especially in the Christian Church.

You’ll find it a very controversial topic in a country like the United States where some people [especially those from the Republican] feel very strongly about it. Before people like President Obama and Sonia Sotomayor were elected to their positions, they were heavily bombarded with abortion questions by the press and other political leaders.
A lot of emphasis has been put on how Christians oppose abortion and how it is one of the worst sins…therefore when people think of those against it, it’s not unusual if they think of the person as Christian.

The title of this post was a question someone asked me after they assumed that I was against it because of my religion, which wasn’t true. As someone of Christian faith, I would like to point out how the strong views you may hear about against abortion don’t necessarily apply to everyone that is Christian. I’m not sure about the US, but in the UK such views are only present  in the most extreme of Christians. For me, out of all the Christians I know in England, only a handful have such strong views on the subject.

I personally don’t think that making abortion illegal ANYWHERE will help. The amount of newborn babies will take a sharp increase, and in a time like this where some countries are in a Recession, it’s hard for people to find the money to provide for babies when they may not even be able to provide for themselves. While I think that everyone is entitled to their opinion, I do also believe that the anti abortion extremists out there don’t take everything into consideration when they say abortion should be banned. They get the idea that every woman who gets abortions are careless and they weren’t really thinking when they got pregnant…when that’s not always the case.

They seem to forget about incidents such as rape, where in America, it is said to happen to 1 in every 6 women [according to the Rape Abuse And Incest National Network]. What if those 1 in every 6 women got pregnant from that? Is it ok to deny them an abortion just because it’s “unethical”? If we want to talk about ethics here then why not talk about how unethical it is to make ANY woman live with a child that was conceived by the person who raped them. A person they’ll be reminded of each time they look at that child. Not just with rape, but why not talk about how unethical it is for a mother to tell their child that they didn’t want them and that they were a mistake?

That’s why I think banning abortion won’t help anything. If people really wanted to reduce the abortion rate then they should get to the root of the problem: contraception. By promoting more the use of condoms etc., less people are more likely to get pregnant, which also means less people are going to need to get abortions done, meaning that it won’t be necessary to make it illegal, as the rates won’t be as high.

It’s pretty simple once you think about it: More Condoms means Less Pregnancies therefore Less Abortions. That way everyone’s happy =)

AP/Reuters: Los Angeles, 5 November 2009:

Recently Nicolas Cage, star of such amazing movies as Knowing, Ghost Rider and Bangkok Dangerous has fallen on some hard times financially. I know it’s a tragedy.  The economy is hitting everyone extremely hard these days.  The extremely versatile actor best known for ability to turn even the most interesting movie lame, has had to auction off some of his possessions.  It’s been said he sold his pair of African King Cobras to a zoo to complete their reptile cage.  He’s put his two haunted mansions in New Orleans on the auction block hoping to cash in on the Paranormal Activity bandwagon.  He sold his 500K Lamborghini back to the Shah of Iran, and even worse he’s been told he can no longer afford to keep his pet Octopus as Octopus food is getting more and more expensive each year.  I’m not sure if anyone remembers, but he did find the world’s most expansive treasure collection in National Treasure.  Where the F did all that money go?  Nic, my good man, I know you’ll bounce back, just stop buying 300K dinosaur skulls and shrunken heads, they are creepy and won’t get you laid more often… What you should do is get a movie role that doesn’t involve the world somehow ending at the hands of an Asian Gang with nuclear capability.  Come on… Matchstick Men, Leaving Las Vegas even Gone in 60 Seconds had some substance.  Don’t let people tell you just cause you’re bald you have to do movies that blow.  You’re better than this man.  Until then, I know a guy who’s in the market for $2,000,000 worth of comic books.

This is the end of the first two parts of the big restock, just have the No Idea order to go. And that one is DEEP.

Maybe add something else with your Thrice pre-order, hmm?

Acid King – Busse Woods
Graves At Sea – Documents of Grief
Mudhoney – The Lucky Ones
Nada Surf – Let Go
Paramore – Riot
Waits, Tom – Mule Variations
Weasel, Ben – The Brain That Wouldn’t Die
Weasel, Ben – These Ones Are Bitter
Wednesday Night Heroes – Guilty Pleasure
Wilco – Sky Blue Sky
Wilco – Summerteeth
Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wisemen – Wisemen Approaching
Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The – Show Your Bones
Young Jeezy – The Recession
Youth Brigade – Come Again
Youth Brigade – Sound and Fury
Youth Brigade – To Sell The Truth
Zion I – The Takeover

Marketing in a bad economy might not be as tough as people think!

It’s easy to get caught up in the hum-drum of today’s 24/7 News networks. Everyone’s proclaiming the end of the world it seems. I’m sure you’re heard it all: Politicians are scam-artists, the economy isn’t turning around, the stock market stinks, the dollar’s worthless, there’s still a housing mess, and now parents are lying about their kids flying around in plastic bubbles just so they can get attention. Needless to say, it’s pretty hard to stay upbeat!

Even worse, is that it’s easy to get swept up by it all and blame your business and marketing failures on a poor economy. Almost every single major news story I’ve listed above, can logically be pointed to as an umbrella issue that people use to blame the shortcomings of their business on. Stop whining. Fix your problems. While you’ll have plenty of people pretend to sympathize with you, pretend sympathy isn’t what is going to turn your business around. Hard work and critical thinking, however, will.

Asking yourself (and your customers) the right questions

Instead of viewing the economy as an obstacle, it should be looked at as an opportunity to market your products and services in a more productive way. Essentially, marketing is taking questions customers and clients may have and then answering them. It’s really as simple as that.

Economic recessions are mostly just market corrections. ‘What doesn’t work anymore’ gets thrown on the scrap heap to make way for ‘What works now’. All commerce rests on the essential idea that people need to have problems solved. If they can’t turn their lights on, then they need someone who can help them fix it. Regardless of what your businesses might be, you should consider yourself a ‘problem solver’. It’s your job to identify the customer/client’s problem and be that solution. The arrival of the recession basically means that the problems of your customers and clients have changed.

The questions to ask yourself are simple – What kind of questions are my customers/clients asking today? Do they want to save money? Do they want to spend more money? Are they looking to be more efficient with how they’re spending their money? Are they looking for more out of less or are they just hoping to get something to stick?

Most importantly,  who in your market is affected by any of the above (or something else) and what are you doing to 1.) Capture their attention; and 2.) Help solve the problems that have risen as a result of these problems?

Are you in real estate? There are massive numbers of people losing their home. How can you help them stay afloat in a flat market? Are you consulting? How are you helping people make better use of their money in a volatile market? How have you gone beyond ’saving big’ to offer your clients a real value for your service? These are all worthwhile questions to be asking yourself.

Don’t use the economy as an excuse for failure

I’m personally sick of hearing the ‘oh, my sales are down because the economy is down’ whining. Do something about it. Don’t use the faltering economy as an excuse for not adjusting and doing the right thing. Running a business is a lot like going on diet. The minute you cave once, it becomes twice. Then twice leads to complacency. Don’t become complacent.

People too often fear failure. They blame everyone else for their issues instead of embracing failure as a learning opportunity. Don’t make a habit out of failure, but don’t make failure a habit of failure. Adjust and take it as an opportunity to do something new – and perhaps bold.

In today’s world, people are becoming more fickle with how they spend their money. This is an opportunity rather than a problem. Do what others won’t do. When everyone else is blaming the economy on faltering sales, go out and create interesting marketing content that steals their traffic away and draws their customers to you.

Easier said than done, right? Not necessarily.

People aren’t looking for just savings. They’ve always looked for value on some level. Some seem to think customer service is the route, but they often confuse that with acquiescing to their customer’s every needs, which becomes a drain on your business rather than an asset. All of those are wrong.

What people want in today’s economy is simple: Something that does what it says it will. To sum it up in one word – trust.

People believe banks have screwed them out of their houses. You can’t go into Wal-Mart or Best Buy without being chased down the aisle by some kid in braces trying to get you to sign up for a 23% interest charge card. People feel as if they’re being preyed upon.

In a bad economy, the best marketing is delivering what you say you’ll do. Help solve problems.

Address their problems straight up and acknowledge your customer’s issues now, more than you have in the past. Folks have a lot of their minds these days. The key to marketing in an economy such as this one is finding ways to help solve their problems – and then actually doing it.

Offer a fair price. Promise what you know you can deliver and no more. Build trust and follow through. That’ll make your business and marketing as recession-proof as anyone can be these days.

THE San Francisco Chronicle has an interesting article about how horse racing has been badly effected by the recession.

Grim stats include betting handle down 10.2 percent nationally this year after dipping 7.0 percent in 2008, and the number of new foals down 8.2 percent nationally and 15.8 percent in California.

“People used to say that gambling is recession-proof, but that’s not true anymore,” Golden Gate Fields general manager Robert Hartman said.

Read more…

Black Friday is no longer the biggest shopping day of the year and lost that title several years ago. In the depths of last fall’s slowdown, it may have even lost its crown as the highest-traffic day too. Nevertheless it is still an enormous volume day for most retailers and a bellwether for the holiday season.

What should retailers and observers look for this year? Here’s a short list:

1. Who are this year’s winners and losers in terms of foot traffic and “share of shopping bags”? This will give a good sense of overall 4th quarter winners.
2. What’s selling? Is it the traditional Black Friday assortment of doorbuster electronics and toys, or is there any visible shift toward discretionary goods like apparel?
3. How’s the mood? Is the shopper visibly relieved that we all avoided the precipice last fall, or does high unemployment still weigh heavily on consumer behavior?

Retail Wire recently invited panelists to discuss a list of marketing themes appropriate to the new economic reality. The item on the list that resonates the loudest to me is, “Can your product or service allow her to do more with less?” There is no doubt that consumers are managing more closely to a budget than in the past, and questioning the need for every purchase. At the same time, the aspirational mindset of shoppers didn’t disappear overnight. So the challenge of “more for less” is a good one for marketers and retailers: How to convince the female shopper in particular that she is getting more for her money, and maintaining her family’s lifestyle to the best of her ability. The genius of Walmart’s tagline for the past couple of years (“Save Money. Live Better.”) is that it speaks to both of these goals.

I’ve nearly been in London for a month now and it’s fairly slow going. Essentially we’re having to wait around until we can earn back the money it cost us to move down here; then we can start relaxing a bit more, going out and having some fun experiences from which music will no doubt follow. For the meantime, it’s quite hard to get inspired…

It’s not helping that I still don’t have a job. It doesn’t matter how many jobs I apply for, what kind of jobs they are or what approach I take to the application – nobody even gets back to me! It’s starting to get silly really; it’s been over a year since I graduated and I’m starting to wonder where this is all going… I mean, if I’m not qualified for these entry-level jobs now, how the hell will I be any more qualified for them in another year’s time?

So at the moment, what am I? I’m a writer with nothing to write about, a personal trainer with no clientele, a wrestler without a ring, a philosopher who has lost his muse and a musician with no inspiration. To be fair to myself, I haven’t exactly boxed myself in by having just a single skill there… I could do typing jobs, writing jobs, creative jobs, thinking jobs, networking jobs, active jobs, training jobs and teaching jobs; I could do jobs with computers, jobs with people, jobs with food and jobs with machines; I could do jobs behind a desk, jobs on the street, jobs in leisure centres, jobs behind a bar, jobs on the phone, jobs in a gym and jobs in a field; I could do customer service jobs, PR jobs, recruitment jobs and advertising jobs – instead of asking me what I can do, why don’t these people ask me what I CAN’T do, so they can rule-out the specific roles? What do people think is so challenging about their job that I couldn’t learn in within a couple of days? I don’t say that because I’m exceptional; I say it because I’m a normal person – just like they are! Hence I am perfectly capable of doing their perfectly normal job.

Christ, anybody would think our workforce is made up of some kind of multi-talented genius race. Yet it’s not, is it? In my experience, our workforce is largely made up of incompetent morons – can you possibly disagree? When is the last time you ever did anything requiring somebody else doing their job and found everything went fine? My phone bill is wrong, my electricity bill is sent to the wrong address, my redirected mail isn’t redirected; I buy some tickets online, they don’t get sent until after the gig; I order takeaway and they forget half the stuff I ordered; I ask for my steak rare and it comes burned to a cinder…again – does any of this sound unfamiliar to you? Or, like me, does human incompetence literally shape your life?

Now, I don’t think I’m being big-headed when I say I consider myself capable of doing any of the aforementioned simple tasks without fucking something up somewhere. Yet I’m unemployed while these cretins sit on their ever-growing arses, hands-free headsets squashing their flabby faces, being paid to tell me I don’t have the appropriate skills for the role in question. What?! How hard do people think these jobs are?! Am I not capable of waiting tables? Is taking drink-orders too much for my philosophically addled mind? Am I seriously considered incapable of fetching shoes from a storeroom? If not, then why I am constantly denied the chance to work in any of these roles?! Why is it that people who can barely speak this language have jobs in call centres and I am deemed “not right for the position at this time”? When WILL I be right for the position of picking up phones in a call centre?! When I can speak English less well, without a universally understandable accent and in a rude and condescending manner?!

So. That’s probably me done. I’m going out in a few hours to play a gig in Hackey – unpaid, of course. Seriously though, I’m not sure how much longer I can keep applying for jobs and getting nowhere. The worst part is, it’s not even like I want most of these jobs! Sure there are a few that sound really interesting and cool, but most are just a way to pay the bills. Not that you’d believe it, the way I write my C.V.s – “Am I passionate about customer service? Am I passionate about CUSTOMER SERVICE?! Hell bitch, was Jesus H. Christ passionate about serving the freakin’ LORD?! I LOOOOOOVE customer service! In fact, I even got suspended for a day at school for scratching ‘CUSTOMER SERVICE ROX!’ into my teacher’s face! Hey, did I mention I have sixteen years of voluntary customer service experience as well? That’s right; I used to sneak out at night when I was just six years old and run down to the all night ASDA to offer helpful advice to the smelly late-night shoppers! Oh boy, do I love customer service… I’m doing it write now as I write this C.V! …”

This county is a mess anyway – I’m still struggling to remember why I haven’t left…

Trap Or Die 2

MSNBC’s Eve Tahmincioglu spoke with Holly Berkley to discover some flaws in the new government subsidy aimed to help laid off workers afford COBRA health care.

Click here to read story http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32303045/ns/business-careers//

Betfair Blog reports that the casino which held the first World Series of Poker will be closing its hotel on December 14 due to the poor economic climate.

Binion’s in Downtown, Las Vegas was opened in 1951 and hosted the first WSOP in 1970, but times have been harder of late.

Read more of the article here…

Image - www.harrahs.com via Wikipedia

Save money and space in landfills at the same time by hosting a clothing swap party with some of your fashionable friends. This is exactly what my neighborhood group of women did last month in an effort to update their closets without having to spend money. We quickly learned that one friend’s old bracelet or business shirt was another friend’s favorite find! All the extra clothes were donated to Goodwill.

Click here to read story http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-07-24/lifestyle/clothing-swap-parties-a-thrifty-way-to-upgrade-wardrobe